Chapter 1: The Hedgehog Twins and the Echidna Girl

"Hey, you! Give that back! Stop thief! I said stop!"

The teenaged hedgehog sighed as he continued to run from the guards, carrying the piece of meat he stole closely to him. As of late it was hard trying to get by in the Fire and Ice tribe, most of it was due to the fact that rival thieves were getting better at stealing then he was, but being spotted so easily in the early morning before anyone was truly awake? It was too much to believe for the hedgehog as he continued to run quickly.

"Geesh," he muttered to himself, "You think stealing a piece of meat would be easy to do these days."

His attention was soon attracted to what was in front of him, a passage way was being blocked off by a number of guards that were after him for some time. He groaned in annoyance, drifting to turn around and head the other way but stopped when he saw another bunch of guards running towards him from behind. He groaned in annoyance as they began to surround him in a circular formation, all of them with holding their swords tightly. The hedgehog smirked a bit and tossed the meat up and down in the air as the guards looked at him in confusion.

"Well now, this is interesting." He said, "Looks like you guys actually planned out a trap for me this time instead of the usual."

The guards just glared at the hedgehog as he continued to throw the meat up into the air with confidence. The captain of the troop stepped forward as the hedgehog, his sword pointing right at the young thief just in case he tried something different.

"We've got you know, the red thief of our beloved tribe and home, Sky the Hedgehog." The captain said, almost smiling at the thought of getting rid of his hated enemy.

Sky just continued to smirk at the captain, dusting off his brown jeans and black leather jacket with his free hand while the other kept throwing the piece of meat into the air. He stood at an average height for most hedgehogs, about three feet and four inches tall, his quills in a short fashion while he had three bangs covering some of his forehead.

"Aw now, come on Cap, you make it sound like I committed a serious crime." Sky said, in a playful matter, which earned him a death glare from the head guard.

"Stealing food IS a criminal offense, if you're lucky the only penalty you would receive is the lost of one of you're hands!"
"Pft, all for a piece of meat? Come on, don't think that's just a little harsh?"

The captain growled in anger and swung his sword towards Sky's neck, but before the blade could make contact with it he stopped his swing. With only a few inches separating Sky's naked neck from the sword, the captain stared into the ruby red eyes of his nemesis.

"Unfortunately, for you, Sky, since you have been a thorn in our side for so long the penalty is even worse. If you are found guilty of all your crimes, which you are, you will be put to death."

Sky sighed as he took two of his finger tips and grabbed the flat part of the sword that was close to his neck. With no effort at all he pushed the blade away with a small push; his eyes narrowing a bit.

"You would put to death someone who is just trying to survive in these crazy times?" He asked, admittedly annoyed at the threat the captain had just given him.

"Whether or not if times are hard, Sky, you have committed the same crime multiple times and we do not take kindly to the same thing over and over again. Now put the meat down and surrender yourself to our control before we force you to come quietly.

The red hedgehog sighed, it looked like there was no getting out of this mess without a fight. He glanced to a dark ally way, as if he was waiting for someone or something to come out of it. He turned back to the captain as he continued to throw the meat up into the air. Sky closed his eyes as he caught the piece of meat once more, but did not throw it into the air again.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way...."

The moment he said that, a ash blue blur flew out of the dark alley, previously overlooked, kneeing one of the guards in the neck at full speed. The guard yelped in pain and surprise, dropping his sword from the impact. The blur snatched the sword and stood back to back with Sky.

"Took your sweet ass time, huh bro?"

The new figure was yet another hedgehog, identical in size and build to Sky, though far different in demeanor. The newcomer scowled, a disinterested look on his face. His hair, identical to his doppleganger, was notably longer. Similarly, he wore a near identical outfit of inverted coloration: a brown leather jacket with black jeans. His eyes were not warm ruby red, like his double. Instead, they were a sharp, chilly shade of emerald green. . He glanced back at Sky, who the newest members of the guard could tell the two were twins.

"Hmph, you owe me for this...can't even do a simple meat hijacking right."

"Ah give me a break, Chronic, not my fault they decided to buff up security while we were away." Sky said, holding onto the piece of meat tightly in his hands.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Chronic said, his eyes turning back to the guards that were in front of his view. "The usual tactic I presume?"

Sky nodded to his brother only once; which got him a smirk from Chronic. The two pulled out two black orbs and tossed them towards the ground with incredible force. The impact between the orbs and the ground released a thick black cloud of smoke, clouding the vision of the guards and the captain the moment it had appeared. Shortly afterward, the smoke cleared away and the twin hedgehogs were gone from the spot they once were at. The captain growled in anger, kicking the dirt at his feet in aggravation.

"Dammit! Damn those two to hell! I almost had him, I swear I almost had him!!!"

XxXxXxX

About nine hundred yards away from the raging captain and his soldiers, who would have to deal with his wrath for the next hour or so, the two twin hedgehogs sat on top of an abandon house's rooftop. Sky sighed in annoyance, looking down at the piece of meat he had just stolen from a small merchant store.

"This is getting ridiculous," he said, "when we came back from our little break security was never this tight."

"It's like you said before," Chronic said, with an uninterested tone of voice, "times are getting harder. Even common thieves like us, who had it easy in the early days, are feeling the pressure."

Sky sighed, knowing that his brother was right about their situation. He half heartrendingly smiled as he glanced back at Chronic.

"You think things would be different if mom didn't disappear that one day?"

Chronic leered at his brother, as much as he hated to admit it, things were easier when they had their mother's guidance when they were younger. Though things were much different back then, a subject Sky knew was sensitive with his twin.

"You know how I feel about that, Sky."

"You can't just keep avoiding the subject, Chronic." Sky said, standing up from his spot.

"Not only can I, but I will."

With that, the ash blue hedgehog stood up as well and began to head towards the stairs near the rooftop's opening. Sky rolled his eyes following his twin brother down the stairs into their warehouse, looking around the area carefully, to make sure no guards were looking for them, before heading inside with Chronic.

Their base, despite being a warehouse, was actually quiet empty inside. Which made it a very deceiving place and the perfect hide away from the local law enforcers. In the middle of the floor, was a small fireplace that the two used to cock food and to stay warm during cold nights. Chronic had already set it up to cook the meat that Sky was lucky enough to get away with. Sky smiled a bit, knowing that his brother was just as hungry as he was.

"A little eager, aren't we?"

"Just shut up and start a fire already, would you?"

Sky rolled his eyes in annoyance, normally he did not like to take orders from Chronic but the two were hungry so he had no choice but to do what he said. He placed the piece of meat on top of the pieces of wood that laid over the fireplace by a couple of inches. Then he took out his hand and pointed the palm of it towards the logs that were already placed in the circle. He closed his eyes, feeling a burning sensation that began to take form in his palm. When he was certain that he had absolute control over the sensation, he opened his eyes.
"Ok, here we go."

A small fireball was fired out of his palm, instantly hitting the large logs that Chronic had gathered. The fire soon began to consume all of the logs as the heat from the burning wood began to rise up towards the piece of meat that was laying on the boards above. The intense heat began to warm the once raw piece of meat into a delicious and delectable meal that could feed both hedgehogs for the night. Sky smiled in victory as he turned the meat over gently to make sure that each side was warm enough. When he was absolutely sure of this, he turned to Chronic and nodded once.

"All right, it's your turn."

Chronic, with a boring expression, held his hand out towards the fire that Sky had started. A faint blue glow surrounded his hand as a cool chilling wind of ice covered over the fire, putting it out without any effort at all. The ash blue hedgehog sat down on his seat, taking a piece of the meat from the wood and began chewing on it. Sky sighed as he took his own piece and sat down from across his twin brother, the warm and savoring flavor of the meat touching on his taste buds.

"Always a pleasant one, Chronic."

"Yeah, I'm a damned model of geniality."
"Shut up and eat your meat."

An hour passed as the two hedgehogs eat the meal that they had barely been able to get away with. The two brothers, learning recently that they had powers over the elements of fire and ice, knew that if they had to, they had a huge advantage over the guards with them. However, when they learned that they did have these strange new powers, they realized that they had to gain control of them or else they would destroy their home tribe. Despite being hated by most of the civilization of the tribe, it was still their home and they had no where else to go.

So, they left the tribe for about three weeks. This led them to getting use to their unnatural abilities and also gave them advantages for the hot summer days and cold winter nights that the two would find themselves in.

Soon, it was the afternoon and the two knew that sooner or later, they would have to go out and steal once again.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go?" Chronic asked, "After today's early get away I'm afraid to trust you to get anything anymore."

"One slip up doesn't mean that it will ruin the rest of the day for me." Sky replied, stretchering out a bit before heading towards the door.

"Besides, even if I do get in trouble you can find me anyway."

"Yeah, but that's because the mess you make is easy to spot."

The red hedgehog just gave a glancing glare to his twin brother before opening the door. When he was certain that no one was around the warehouse, he jumped out and began running towards the market place yet again; this time determined to avoid any attention.

XxxXxXxX

Moments later, Sky found himself perched in a perfect hiding place. A small rooftop that had the best view of the entire market, not to mention that it was also a good place to lay low until the guards had moved away. He smiled to himself, watching the busy streets of the fire and ice tribe with hawk like vision, seeking out any type of opportunity that he could get.

"Now then," he whispered to himself, "just who is the right one to pluck from today?"

"Hey, lady! Watch where you're going!"

Sky's ears seemed to perk up from the voice he had just heard, this drew his attention to one of the local hedgehogs, ranting at a being in a dark brown cloak. His curiosity began to take over his attention, watching with great interest as the being in the cloak stood behind the ranting hedgehog.

"I-I'm sorry..." the cloaked person said, just by the quiet and gentle tone in her voice, Sky could tell the being was a girl. Though why she was wearing a cloak in this intense heat was beyond his reasoning.

"Sorry?!" the hedgehog yelled in anger, "Sorry?! That's all you can say?! You nearly tripped me!"

"It's just that...I..."

Her voice seemed to trail off, the angry hedgehog advanced on the cloaked being. He was so angry that you could see the blood veins on his eyes. Sky sighed, this usually happened during a busy rush hour. Two people would walk into each other, they would start a huge fight, and the guards would appear to break it up. However, this time it looked like it would be a one sided fight.

"It's just that you're what? That you're too stupid to keep out of people's ways?!"

"I...I didn't see you..."

The hedgehog growled and grabbed the hood of the cloak, trying to pull it off which was only being stopped by the cloaked being's hands grabbing his wrist.
"I'll tell you why you didn't see me," he snarled, "it's because you're wearing this damn cloak! Take it off!"

"N-No! I-I can't do that!"

"Why the hell not, girl?!"

"I...I h-have a bad skin c-condition!"

The hedgehog just glared at her, taking his free hand and grabbing the other side of her cloak and began to pull even harder then before.
"Bull shit you have a skin condition!" With a successful tug, he managed to pull off the cloak that was covering the girl, "Now, face up for your...stupid..."

His voice just seemed to trail off as he stood at the being that was hidden underneath the cloak. Sky sat straight up from his perch to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. They weren't, standing right there in front of the once angry hedgehog, was a female echidna.

"I don't believe it..." He whispered.

The echidna took a small step back away from the hedgehog that had pulled off her only defense from being seen by the rest of the tribe. When he had first laid eyes on her, Sky could have sworn that he had just saw an angel enter his homeland. Despite the fact she was an echidna, she was very beautiful to look at. Her dreadlocks, as well as the rest of her body, had a red orange hue that seemed to reflect the sunlight's glow. She wore a small light tan shirt that revealed her midriff and a long skirt that had many different designs as well as a pair of matching sandals. He couldn't help but smile a bit, for an echidna, she was pretty cute. However, the others though...

"Echidna!" They started to shout, each of them looking for something to throw at the young girl. If there ever was something that Sky hated to watch, it was his clan's extreme bigamist towards the other Mobian species that they shared this planet with. He turned away, not wanting to watch them throw stones at the young girl. He closed his eyes, telling himself not to do anything stupid or reckless, not when he had his own problems to worry about. Let the girl get stoned, he told himself, it's better that you don't get caught by the guards, let her take the hate of the tribe. That's what his brother, Chronic would say.

However, Sky was not Chronic in the slightest bit.

He opened his eyes and stood up on the small roof he was laying on. His eyes narrowed as he jumped towards the crowd that was surrounding the echidna; rocks flying out of every direction. He landed in front of her, taking most of the rocks for her so she would be spared any pain they would cause to her body. The crowd suddenly stopped throwing their rocks, surprised to see someone of their own kind stand up for another Mobian species. Sky's eyes narrowed, he glanced back at the girl, who watched him stand in front of her. He smiled somewhat at her with a friendly face as he returned his attention to the crow. For sometime, there was only silence, but then Sky held up his arm towards the crowd and lowered his voice in a deep threatening manner.

"You leave her alone..."